Danny Driver

Last updated

Danny Driver (born 1977) [1] is a British classical pianist.

He was born and grew up in London. His mother is Israeli, and his first language was Hebrew. His father was a keen amateur violinist who studied at Oxford University. Through his mother, he is descended from the Baal Shem Tov (also an ancestor of his wife, the American conductor Rebecca Miller). [2] He studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge before moving to the Royal College of Music. [3] In 2001 he won both the Royal Over-Seas League Competition Keyboard Award and the BBC Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year Competition.

Danny has performed with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Minnesota Orchestra, and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, among many others. He has made two appearances at the BBC Proms, most recently with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and their Artistic Director Charles Dutoit. [4] His performance of Saint-Saëns' 'Egyptian' Concerto at the 2012 Bard Music Festival was released by the American Symphony Orchestra on its own ASO live label. [5] [6]

Driver's recordings for the Hyperion Records label include music by Robert Schumann, C. P. E. Bach, George Frideric Handel, Mily Balakirev, as well as neglected British composers such as Benjamin Dale, York Bowen, and Erik Chisholm. [4] He has also recorded all of the Beethoven violin sonatas with British violinist Chloe Hanslip. His recording of York Bowen's complete Piano Sonatas was nominated for a Gramophone Award [7] in 2010; his recording of Handel's Eight Great Suites was voted Instrumental Recording of the Year 2014 by Australia's Limelight magazine. [8]

In 2016, Driver was appointed Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music, London. [9]

The couple has a daughter and a son.

Related Research Articles

Natalie Clein is a British classical cellist. Her mother is a professional violinist. Her sister is the actress Louisa Clein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Isserlis</span> British cellist (born 1958)

Steven Isserlis is a British cellist. An acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, educator, writer and broadcaster, he is widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. He is also noted for his diverse repertoire and distinctive sound which is deployed with his use of gut strings.

James Ehnes, is Canadian concert violinist and violist.

Gil Shaham is an American violinist of Jewish descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Manze</span> British conductor and violinist

Andrew Manze is a British conductor and violinist, noted for his interpretation of Baroque violin music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)</span>

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 by Camille Saint-Saëns was composed in 1868 and is probably Saint-Saëns' most popular piano concerto. It was dedicated to Madame A. de Villers. At the première on 13 May the composer was the soloist and Anton Rubinstein conducted the orchestra. Saint-Saëns wrote the concerto in three weeks and had very little time to prepare for the première; consequently, the piece was not initially successful. The capricious changes in style provoked Zygmunt Stojowski to quip that it "begins with Bach and ends with Offenbach."

The Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, Op. 103, popularly known as The Egyptian, was Camille Saint-Saëns' last piano concerto. He wrote it in 1896, 20 years after his Fourth Piano Concerto, to play himself at his own Jubilee Concert on May 6 of that year. This concert celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his début at the Salle Pleyel in 1846.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Hough</span> British music educator, pianist and academic.

Sir Stephen Andrew Gill Hough is a British-born classical pianist, composer and writer. He became an Australian citizen in 2005 and thus has dual nationality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Bowen</span> English composer and pianist (1884–1961)

Edwin York Bowen was an English composer and pianist. Bowen's musical career spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. As well as being a pianist and composer, Bowen was a talented conductor, organist, violist and horn player. Despite achieving considerable success during his lifetime, many of the composer's works remained unpublished and unperformed until after his death in 1961. Bowen's compositional style is widely considered ‘Romantic’ and his works are often characterized by their rich harmonic language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mats Lidström</span>

Mats Lidström is a Swedish solo cellist, recording artist, chamber musician, composer, teacher and publisher.

James Zuill Bailey, better known as Zuill Bailey is an American Grammy Award-winning cello soloist, chamber musician, and artistic director. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he has appeared in recital and with major orchestras internationally. He is a professor of cello and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas at El Paso. Bailey’s extensive recording catalogue are released on TELARC, Avie, Steinway and Sons, Octave, Delos, Albany, Sono Luminus, Naxos, Azica, Concord, EuroArts, ASV, Oxingale and Zenph Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustin Hadelich</span> Italian-German-American violinist (born 1984)

Augustin Hadelich is an Italian-German-American Grammy-winning classical violinist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piers Lane</span> Australian pianist (born 1958)

Piers Lane is an Australian classical pianist.

Martyn Charles Brabbins is a British conductor. He was the music director of the English National Opera from 2016 until his resignation in 2023.

Dong-Suk Kang is a South Korean violinist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barjansky Stradivarius</span> Musical instrument

The Barjansky Stradivarius of c.1690 is an antique cello fabricated by the Italian Cremonese luthier Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Power</span>

Lawrence Power is a British violist, born 1977, noted both for solo performances and for chamber music with the Nash Ensemble and Leopold String Trio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahan Esfahani</span> Musical artist

Mahan Esfahani is an Iranian-American harpsichordist.

Jack Liebeck is a British–German violinist. In 2010, he won a Classical Brit in the young British classical performer category. He was soloist on the score for the 2011 film Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and also on the Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated soundtrack for Anna Karenina (2012). Both scores were composed by Dario Marianelli. He records exclusively for Hyperion Records.

Michael Dussek is an English pianist specialising in chamber music and song accompaniment.

References

  1. "London International Piano Competition - 12th April @www.classicalsource.com". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  2. "The pianist who wants you to laugh at his playing | the Jewish Chronicle". Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  3. "Mark Kendall Artists Management - -". Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Danny Driver (piano) on Hyperion Records". Hyperion-records.co.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  5. Steve Smith (13 August 2012). "A Bard Music Festival Weekend of Saint-Saëns". The New York Times . Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  6. "Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 103 - EP by American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein & Danny Driver on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  7. Cullingford, Martin (10 January 2011). "Awards 2010 - shortlist and winners, reviewed". Gramophone.co.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  8. "The Limelight Recording of the Year 2014". Limelightmagazine.com.au. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  9. "New Piano Professors Join the RCM". www.rcm.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2020.